Elections are rigged with voter suppression more 'insidious' than in the 1960s, Stacey Abrams says

Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia gubernatorial candidate who claims that she won the 2018 election despite losing by nearly 55,000 votes, said during a Sunday interview on ABC that voter suppression in 2019 is more insidious than it was in the 1960s.

The former Georgia state representative has been vocal and active in opposing laws and policies that impose stricter identification requirements on voters or result in the purging of names from voter rolls for various reasons including inactivity or inconsistency of record.

ABC's Lindsey Davis asked Abrams about her comments suggesting voter suppression in 2019 is comparable to that of the 1960s, an era in which black voters were hindered by poll taxes, whites-only primaries, literacy tests, and threats of physical violence.

"We have always struggled with voter suppression," Abrams replied. "But what's happened in the last 20 years, is that it's gone underground. It's no longer hoses and laws that say you cannot vote, it is this insidious nature that says it's race neutral, that we're just putting in these laws in place for everyone, but we know it has a disproportionate effect on the communities that have long been marginalized."

One of Abrams' complaints about the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election was that her opponent, then-Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, used his position to strictly enforce laws that allow for the purging of voters from the rolls if the name on the application does not exactly match the name on the applicant's government ID.

She also opposes stricter voter identification laws, some of which have been shown to disproportionately affect students, minorities, and the elderly because of the administrative burden that can prevent or discourage those voters in those demographics from obtaining government IDs.

After deciding against a once-rumored presidential run in 2020, Abrams has instead focused on her organization Fair Fight 2020, which aims to "expand democracy and ensure all voters have access to the polls."

Elections are rigged with voter suppression more 'insidious' than in the 1960s, Stacey Abrams says
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August 19, 2019
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